Andrew Koch, Mobile

This just seems foolish. Promoting safe sex in Africa is a pretty logical way to reduce the spread of AIDS. I suppose the Pope’s proposal is just to pray for things to get better, but I would suggest that condoms are the answer to that prayer (at least in part).

With Nomar coming on board, the A’s feel a lot deeper and more mature than they have in a while. Hopefully, some of these elder statesmen (Orlando Cabrera, Giambi, Nomar) can help the younger guys develop a bit faster. While Nomar doesn’t really make the A’s that much better, I somehow feel more optimistic today than I did after the OC signing. This offseason has seen the A’s bring in a lot of new and recognizable faces/names. I wonder if Beane & co are optimizing not just for on-field performance but for revenue. The idea that “winning brings revenue” is often thrown around, but baseball is basically in the entertainment business. This year’s team promises to be more entertaining than last years, in terms of offense and in terms of “stars”. Will that translate into more revenue, which will lead to more acquired talent and then finally winning? So, the more basic questions are (1) Does winning drive revenue or does revenue drive winning? And (2) have the A’s changed their answer to that question over the last couple years?

Cabrera is cheap, offers better offense than Crosby and has better range than Crosby. Is this enough to keep up with the Angels? Doubtful, but I’m optimistic.

“Manny is the housing market.”

Shockingly cheap. This is bad news for the green and gold.

Sounds like MLB’s offering a pretty great upgrade to their online video package.  I’ve been an “Extra Innings” subscriber through my cable provider the last few years, but this might be the year I switch to the online version.